Pathway to the Past

11 Sep 2008

Hackney Gazette

Not many people know the name Joanna Vassa. And the woman herself is not a well-known historical character. But her part in the history of slavery and race in this country is valuable and what is more, her tombstone in Abney Park Cemetery has just been awarded a Grade II Listing.

Joanna Vassa was the only remaining relative of the famous black abolitionist Olaudah Equiano. She was born in 1795 to Equiano and his English wife. Tragically her mother died a year after her birth, followed by her father and sister in the following year. It is unclear what happened to the young Joanna following the deaths of her family members but it is probable that she was brought up by her mother’s family in Cambridgeshire. We do know, however, that her later life was spent with her Reverend husband in North London. She died in 1857 and was buried at Abney Park Cemetery to be joined more than two decades later by her husband.

Giving the memorial a Grade II Listing means it is protected in its place in the Cemetery. It means that organisations and individuals offering funding can be reassured of the worth of the Cemetery and its tombs. And listing recognises its importance to black history, to British history and to Stoke Newington and Hackney history.

Olaudah Equiano is a fascinating and significant character in British and Black history. He was perhaps the foremost slavery abolitionist of African descent. He was sold by tribal elders into slavery when he was 10 years old and taken to Barbados before being moved to Virginia. There he witnessed and experienced the horrors of slavery first-hand, but managed to survive. He was later moved to the Caribbean island Montserrat where his master taught him to read and write more fluently and gave him skilled work. In his early twenties Equiano was able to buy his freedom and moved to England, where he felt his freedom would be safer. From London he was heavily involved in the abolitionist movement, giving lectures and speeches on the atrocities of slavery. His public speaking was so well-liked that he was persuaded to write his life story. Equiano’s autobiography caused a storm on its publication. It was hailed as a masterpiece of literature and helped to show the British public why abolishing slavery was an issue of such importance.

And there are other gravestones in Abney Park that link us to the history of slavery in this country. The Reverends Samuel Oughton and Thomas Burchell were two Baptist missionaries who campaigned for an end to slavery and for the emancipation of Jamaica and are buried close to the Abney Park Chapel. Elsewhere in the Cemetery the 19th Century secretary of the organisation now called Anti-Slavery International is buried along with another abolitionist Reverend, Joseph Kelly. On top of these noted anti-slavery campaigners the Cemetery houses the tombstones of ministers who fought to help Africans and escaped slaves tell their stories in writing.

The story of slavery abolitionists at the Abney Park Cemetery is just one part of a vast history of North East London and beyond that is contained in the beautiful gardens there. For me the Cemetery is like a pathway into our past. A visit to the Cemetery is a brilliant way of bringing history alive for our young people and visitors to the area. And the Abney Park Cemetery Trust offers activity days like stone-carving as well as history tours of the Cemetery and nature walks. Contact the Trust on 0207 275 7557 for details.



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